Jason Alexander, Yo-Yo Ma & More Set for Tanglewood's 2014 Summer Season

In 2014 Tanglewood welcomes Andris Nelsonsfor his first festival appearances as BSO Music Director Designate. His first of four concerts with the BSO will be an all-Dvo?ák program, with the composer's symphonic poem The Noonday Witch, the Violin Concerto with soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and the Symphony No. 8 (7/11). For his second BSO program on July 19, Maestro Nelsons will be joined by Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger performing his compatriot Rolf Martinsson's Trumpet Concerto, on a program with music by Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The following Sunday afternoon (7/20), Maestro Nelsons will open his BSO program withChristopher Rouse's Rapture, followed by Lalo'sSymphonie espagnole, with violin soloist Joshua Bell, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.

In a special gala concert on July 12, Andris Nelsons will lead a dance-inspired program featuring both theBoston Symphony and fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, the BSO's prestigious summer music academy. For his first performance with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Maestro Nelsons and the orchestra will be joined by a group of acclaimed opera singers for excerpts from Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier; the program will also feature the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances and Ravel's Bolero. The evening's performance will be preceded by a celebratory dinner on the occasion of Maestro Andris's first Tanglewood appearances as BSO Music Director Designate; the festivities will continue with a post-concert party, also in honor of Mr. Nelsons.

In addition to the BSO's July 5 all-American Opening Night Gala Concert with Renée Fleming(conductor to be announced at a later date) and the orchestra's July 20 performance ofChristopher Rouse's Rapture with Andris Nelsons conducting, Tanglewood will offer a special focus on American music with orchestral, opera, and film presentations in the Koussevitzky Music Shed, and in opera, chamber music, and recital programs in Ozawa Hall, which marks its 20th Anniversary Season in 2014. Along with the concert performance of Bernstein's Candide and the movie presentation with live orchestra of The Wizard of Oz, mentioned above, Tanglewood will present American baritone Thomas Hampson in a selection of Old American Songs by Aaron Copland, with Christoph von Dohnányi conducting (7/18), and the world premiere of William Bolcom's CircusOverture to open a BSO concert celebrating Leonard Slatkin's 70th birthday (8/8).

The American music theme will extend to the season-long celebration of the 20th anniversary of Ozawa Hall with an appearance by Chanticleer in a program entitled She Said/He Said, with music ranging from Renaissance madrigals to new arrangements from Chanticleer's popular and jazz repertoire (7/9); a performance of Bernstein'sSymphonic Dances from West Side Story and a new work by Sam Adams by the National Youth Orchestra of the USA under the direction ofDavid Robertson (7/24); The Knights with special guest Dawn Upshaw performing Maria Schneider's Winter Morning Walks (7/23); and a recital program featuring pianist Jeremy Denkperforming Ives's Concord Sonata (8/13). TheBoston Symphony Chamber Players will present the Tanglewood premiere of a new work by an American composer commissioned for the ensemble's 50th anniversary season in 2013-14; that program will also include music of Debussy and Schubert (7/1). The Ozawa Hall 20th Anniversary Season will also feature two jazz programs: American jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis, Jr., and his son, trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, will perform jazz standards and original compositions in a program entitled The Last Southern Gentlemen (8/17); and the highly acclaimed Grammy Award-winning Maria Schneider Orchestra will perform on August 24.

The 2014 Festival of Contemporary Music, July 17-21, under the direction of John Harbison andMichael Gandolfi, will present programs featuring works by American composers, with a special emphasis on music from a younger generation of Americans, many of whom have been Fellows at the Tanglewood Music Center. Along with several of this country's most prominent composers-John Adams, Steve Mackey, George Perle, Bernard Rands, and Roger Sessions-the festival will also feature several rising stars in the world of composition: Anthony Cheung (TMC 2005), Hannah Lash (TMC 2005), Eric Nathan(TMC 2010),and Kate Soper (TMC 2006). In addition to works by Mr. Harbison (TMC 1959) and Mr. Gandolfi (TMC 1986), the festival will also feature works by American composers Martin Boykan, David Dzubay, Keeril Makan, James Matheson, Andrew Waggoner, and Anna Weesner. Works by Korean composer Seung-Ah Oh (TMC 2006), German composer Benjamin Scheuer (TMC 2012), and British composer Charlotte Bray (TMC 2008) will also be included. The Festival of Contemporary Music programs will feature the Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, along with guest artists to be announced at a later date.

Highlights among the Boston Symphony Orchestra's offering of 22 concerts throughout the summer include Mahler's Symphony No. 2,Resurrection, with conductor Christoph von Dohnányi (7/26); excerpts from Verdi's Nabucco and Aida under the direction of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (7/27); an all-Tchaikovsky program with Yo-Yo Ma performing [[Yo-Yo Ma]] Variations on a Rococo Theme, for cello and orchestra, with conductorDavid Zinman (8/10); and Prokofiev's score toAlexander Nevsky on a program with Emanuel Ax performing Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, with Stéphane Denève conducting (8/15). The BSO's portion of the 2014 Tanglewood season will close on August 24 with Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, featuring pianist Yefim Bronfman, andBeethoven's Ninth Symphony, under the direction of Charles Dutoit. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver,conductor, will be featured in the programs of excerpts from Verdi'sNabucco and Aida on July 27; Prokofiev'sAlexander Nevsky on August 15; Leonard Bernstein's Candide on August 16; and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and Ninth Symphony on August 24.

Besides leading the Boston Pops in the score toThe Wizard of Oz to accompany the universally beloved movie classic (8/22), Keith Lockhart will conduct Boston Pops concerts featuring Broadway veteran and Tony Award-winner Jason Alexander in a program of comedy, song, and dance (7/13), and superstar singer Josh Groban in a program that brings the 2014 Tanglewood season to a close on August 30. John Williams will lead Tanglewood's Film Night, one of the most eagerly-anticipated evenings of the Tanglewood season, with special guests to be announced at a later date (8/2). The annual day-long musical celebration, Tanglewood on Parade, culminating in an evening concert with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras, led by Keith Lockhart, John Williams, and Stéphane Denève will take place on August 5.

Tanglewood welcomes back James Taylor and his extraordinary band for two performances in the Koussevitzky Music Shed, July 3 and 4. A spectacular fireworks display over the Stockbridge Bowl will follow the concert. Mr. Taylor, who regularly performs to sold-out audiences at Tanglewood, has returned to the festival 21 times since his first performances there in 1974. Tickets for James Taylor's July 3 and 4 concerts go on sale Thursday, January 16. All proceeds for the July 4 concert to benefit Tanglewood.

Tanglewood will present two of this country's most popular radio programs in 2014: A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor will be broadcast live from the Koussevitzky Music Shed on June 28, and Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!with host Peter Segal will be taped on August 28 for future broadcast.

The intimate setting of Ozawa Hall provides the backdrop for two staged operas: Handel's Teseo with thePhilharmonia Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Nicholas McGegan (8/14) and the new chamber version of Jack Beeson's Lizzie Borden, performed by a Boston Lyric Opera chamber ensemble under the direction of David Angus (7/31). The Sequentia Ensemble (7/15), Chanticleer(7/9), National Youth Orchestra of the USA (7/24), Emerson String Quartet (7/10), and Boston Symphony Chamber Players, celebrating their 50th anniversary season (7/1), are among the prestigious ensembles to perform in Ozawa Hall during the 2014 Tanglewood season. The Knights, the popular New York-based chamber orchestra, will present a program featuring soprano Dawn Upshaw and trumpeterHåkan Hardenberger (7/23). Ozawa Hall will also host several other prominent artists in recital, chamber music, and orchestral concerts, including baritone Thomas Hampson with pianist Wolfram Rieger in a program celebrating the 150th birthday of Richard Strauss (7/16), and all-Brahms programs with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (8/6) and pianist Emanuel Ax, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and violinistLeonidas Kavakos on August 7.

On Sunday, August 24, One Day University, the acclaimed adult educational series, returns to Tanglewood with lectures on What Would The Founding Fathers Think of America Today?with Wendy Schiller from Brown University; The Art of Aging with Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland from Yale University, Sponsored by The Boys From Brooklyn; and Rhapsody In Blue, Gershwin's Remarkable Masterpiece with Orin Grossman, Fairfield University.